Opinion Terrorist and Virus

On your screens,a battle between imperative and instinct

Saubhik Chakrabarti

August 15, 2009 12:56 PM IST First published on: Aug 15, 2009 at 12:56 PM IST

WE don’t have an editorial position on H1N1,Times Now said. Lucky you,H1N1. But unlucky me. Because this is a fascinating question: What editorial position can you take on a flu virus? I really would have liked an answer.

However,if I were an H1N1 virus,I would be very confused. What is news TV’s take on swine flu and India? On Times Now,one heard the anchor saying there’s no reason to panic but one also saw an onscreen caption declaiming “India gets into combat mode”. One heard the anchor reemphasise that there’s no need to panic but one also heard him say India simply can’t go from one flu to another (the plain vanilla flu that happens every year but which this year will probably be heralded as a national emergency). One panelist said India is as afraid as it was during 26/11,and pointed out how P. Chidambaram beefed up security after that attack. Only on news TV,I repeat,only on news TV,can you hear such interesting stuff. I mean,think about it,terrorists and viruses,both have a nasty habit of slipping into this country.

The thing is,I think,news TV is caught between what it should do and what it wants to do. It should be sober,which it wasn’t after the first swine flu death. But instinctively it wants to run with the story as if there’s no tomorrow,or if there is,that tomorrow is a day when H1N1 rules the country. Times Now is the market leader right now in daily demonstrations of this conflict between imperative and instinct.

Its reporters are going everywhere,public hospitals,private pharmacies,and bringing us tiny stories via tiny,hidden cameras. Naturally,therefore,the headlines are big — no news TV sting is ever anything less than a nation-shaking revelation. Masks are pricey at a Bangalore chemist’s — that’s a fraud on the people of this country,of course,and a gentleman specialising on consumer rights tells us how we can sue and get our rights back.

The ‘D’ of CNN-IBN’s ‘ABCD’ on swine flu said something like don’t touch your mouth or nose with your hands. What,never? If you feel like scratching your nose,should you go to a designated public hospital?

I should tell you about other stuff happening on news TV. Monsoon? The draft direct tax code (of which there was incredibly insubstantial coverage on general news channels)? Let me pick environment and sex.

NDTV’s Greenathon has film actors being terribly earnest on all that’s green and good. Sitting through the whole thing as it carries on is a savagely tough test of your commitment to a better,greener world. Your reward will come at the end,if last year’s edition was anything to go by. There will be music,balloons,dancing,and non-dancing,non-singing climate scientists.

I also mentioned sex. Heard on CNN-IBN (this was part of the studio chats engendered by the channel’s very underwhelming State of the Nation surveys): Sex is everywhere and the fact that we are denying it or trying to put a price on it shows that we are not part of the 21st century globalising market as we claim to be.

Wow. And why am I,an instinctive libertarian,so confused by this?